Automation
The goal of automation is to move from complete manual control to mere fault correction on the parts of humans''' 1. Component Integration Component Integration: The most major step in drilling automation, as described by '''Apache advisor Jim Rogers 2, is to integrate the different components of a drilling rig into one unit, requiring communication and command. Communication Communication processes and protocols for autonomous components are well defined, having been implemented for the past 30 years. Simply put, communication is the passing of data (Which can contain commands) from one component to another. Protocols The protocols required for message passing are the simplest, simply requiring a framework of communication to be installed. An example of this is a TCP/IP socket system. This kind of system was invented in the 1980s.3 A protocol generally involves a message header, data packet tags, and a reception confirmation algorithm. Processes The communication process requires an encoder and parser to send and understand transmittable data. These also are common. For example, a web browser (Chrome, Firefox) is an HTML parser. Command To fully integrate these units, a central control unit or elected leader 4 is required. Both have the same requirements. First, the leader must determine what the required commands are. This shall be later described in the operation section. Second, the leader must send these commands, using the communication framework, to the components. Third, the components must execute the commands and report the results back to the leader. Finally, the leader must determine how these results affect the overall process. This entire algorithm is simple, and has been implemented across computer science in many different ways, from process communication and requests to car assembly lines. All of these boil down to the same thing. This is a simple version of the process described in a paper by Breyholtz, IRIS, and Nikolaou from UH 5. Planning and Correction Planning Planning, using motion planning algorithms such as ROP (Developed by Schlumberger for drilling 6), eliminate the need for tedious human planning of drilling paths to the target. By giving a set of constraints to the process, it can determine the most efficient route to the target in seconds. Correction Correction is the process of changing the planned route in directional drilling to accommodate unforeseen results or obstacles. This occurs whenever an extraneous result is returned by a component. Correction involved analysis of the current state, including location, conditions, understanding of the area, and available resources. Having analyzed these factors, the process will make the necessary changes to the plan and continue execution, doing so in a manner that seems seamless and instant to humans. Correction also deals with the correction of errors and recovery from physical problems, such as getting stuck, as described by NASA’s report on their Mars analog 7. Operation The actual process construction and command sequence is the area requiring the most work in the drilling automation field, as it must be developed from scratch. The goal is to have human overseers for fault correction and nothing else in order to reduce labor risks, costs, and increase efficiency. Due to drilling’s slow nature by computer standards, most of the processor time on the control unit will be spent IO blocked, waiting for the components to respond. Therefore, due to correction of human error and decreased reaction time, the overall costs of operating a drilling rig decrease. The industry has expressed concern over directional drilling and its unknowns, especially in handing control over to a computer. Precise distance measurements and recordings of previous locations allow for a computer to know much more precisely where the drill bit is at any given time, reducing the accidents caused by unknown locations. Pros and Cons Automation and mechanization both have advantages and drawbacks to their use and operation. They increase efficiency, reliability, as well as safety of oil rigs in general, however much needs to be done in order for these improvements to be more widely adopted. See Also Mechanization Dangers of Drilling (Home) Pros and Cons References 1Wardt, John, Michael Behounek, Clinton Chapman, and Devi Putra. "Well Construction Automation." Drilling Systems Automation. Proc. of SPE Applied Technology Workshop, Colorado, USA, Vail. 2 Killalea, Mike. "Drilling Automation: Is Resistance Futile? | Drilling Contractor." Drilling Contractor. Association of Drilling Contractors, 6 July 2011. 3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol_suite 4 https://parasol.tamu.edu/~tradeva/paper.pdf 5 Beryholtz, Oyvind, and Michael Nikolaou. "Drilling Automation: Presenting a Framework for Automated . Operations." SPE Drilling & Completion 27.1 (2012): 118-26 6 ROP Optimization 7 Bluck, John. "Mars Analog Mission." NASA. NASA, 13 July 2006 Category:Solution Category:Browse